Finnish parliament says 'yes' to Constitution, rejects referendum[fr][de] 

An overwhelming majority of the Finnish parliamentarians have on 12 May voted for the EU Constitutional Treaty, thereby paving the way for its ratification before 1 July 2006 when their country takes over the rotating EU presidency. At the same time, they rejected a proposal to ratify the Constitution by referendum. 

Saying that the EU Constitutional Treaty was not "dead", Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen declared he wanted to revive the constitutional process. Rather than cherry-picking bits and pieces, the Constitution should be kept in its entirety.

On 20 October, the Finnish government wants to hold an informal EU summit on the fate of the Constitution and other issues (such as energy security). 

In the meantime, Commission president José Manuel Barroso said it seemed unlikely that a final decision would be taken on the EU Constitution before 2008. He called upon the heads of state and government to renew their commitment to the European project in a declaration in March 2007, when the EU will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the founding Treaty of the EU.